Wooden Box Project

Monday and Tuesday (Feb 22, 2010-Feb 23, 2010) of last weeek we started on our wooden box projects in the underwater classroom here at the marina. The project involved taking a sheet of plywood and a length of 2 by 6 lumber to the bottom. From this we were to create an 8"x8"x8" wooden box using only a hand saw, a hammer and 16 nails. The first challenge of this project was rigging the piece of wood in such a way that we could work on them while keeping them on the bottom. Once the wood was secure at the workstation we had cut the pieces to the proper dimensions while making sure that no pieces floated away from us to the surface. Using the hand tools underwater turned out to be harder than we had anticipated but it gave us an idea of how much harder simple tasks can be underwater. The project required that you not only work hard but smart by keeping a clean and organized work station and by planning every move to complete the task. The grading on the project was done on a scale of ten to zero with ten being a perfect box. Points were taken off for nails that were not driven correctly, incorrect dimensions, gaps between the pieces of wood, lost nails, and lost pieces. All of us spent about an hour and a half between the two days in the water working on the project and everyone completed the project successfully!